Dust in My Eyes
by Corbin Slate
Summary: A member of the Favor outfit awaits his nightshift


Title: Dust in My Eyes

Author: Corbin

Rating: G

Major Characters: N/A

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction, you're reading it for free. I wrote it for free, so don't you be trying to sue. That would be more trouble then I'm worth.

Spoilers: None

Summary: A member of the Favor outfit awaits his night hawk shift.

***To Grey, thank you for looking this over! You are awesome!***

* * Author's Notes: Okay so this fic isn't exactly normal, but it does pertain to the characters in Rawhide (sort of anyway). It's just from a **very **different perspective. Once again I owe my inspiration to the sweltering boredom and isolation that I face daily in the garden center at Lowes. Enjoy! **

It was evening, the herd was bedded down and another exhausting day had at last found closure. I stood and dozed at the hitch line as I awaited my approaching nighthawk shift. A small rustling in the brush nearby gave me a start, I flinched slightly but not enough to wake the others. My ears went alert as I assumed a rattlesnake was going to slither out of that small bush. Instead I was met by a small creature that timidly crept out from the shelter of the brush. 

The small rabbit saw that I was aware of it's presence and it froze, unsure if my presence was a threat to it. Immediately I relaxed my stance, the cottontail acted in kind and started to groom itself. 

"Hello," I stated softly, the bunny ignored my greeting and busied itself with the task of grooming its ears. Once it was satisfied that its ears were tidy it looked up at me in a curious way. For a moment I wondered if this rabbit even knew how to speak.

"What are you doing here?" The young rabbit asked hopping a bit closer to me.

"Resting for the night," I replied.

"You keep strange company, Mustang," The rabbit scratched an itch behind its left ear and then eyed me suspiciously.

"Oh, you mean the others."

"Yes. Why do you stay with them, Mustang? You could break free; join your wild brothers once more. You could be _free_…like all of us."

I chuckled to myself. The rabbit was right, if I had wanted to I could have broken my tie or even chewed the line through and ran away. All of us could have left if we really wanted to, but the colt-like desire to be wild had long since left me behind. "No…I like traveling with these creatures. They have wisdom that I shall never have and they take care of me."

The rabbit rolled his eyes, "_Nature_ could take care of you if you were free. You could go and do whatever you pleased."

"No, I like working with these masters. I have no desire to leave and be free," I replied gently.

"Why would you want to be among these _Predators_?"

"Predators?" I laughed. "These creatures are my caretakers, not my hunters. I do not fear them."

"_I do_," The rabbit mumbled as he looked toward the safety of the bush and his hidden den.

"Understandably so," I flicked my tail back and forth gently. "But you are a source of food. I am a source of _power_," The rabbit was quiet, he didn't know what to say. "My master, the one the others call Favor. He is like no one whom I have ever been ridden by."

"He is a _man_ like all the others. They are all the same."

"No, he is quite different from most of their kind," I paused trying to think of an instance that had made my master unlike other men. "Did you see the dust storm that blew by yesterday?"

"Yes, I had to spend hours cleaning my den of all the rubbish the wind blew in."

"We were in the middle of that storm," The rabbit's ears flicked up he seemed interested. "My master could barely see through the dirt in the air, I couldn't really see at all and I relied on him to guide me. When we had finished for the day and mercifully bedded the grumbling cattle down it was like I had taken a dust bath. Everyone was completely covered with a layer of fine dirt. We had all become buckskins."

"Most of the drovers went and bedded down, but my master stayed with me for a bit," I shifted my weight and continued to speak. "I was completely miserable. Every breath I inhaled smelled of dust, my eyes hurt from it as well. I knew that the master was just as tired as his men, he needed to eat and sleep. But I couldn't argue with him. He took off his bandana and wet it with some water from his canteen. He completely ignored the dirt covering his own body and took his wet bandana and started to wipe the dust away from my eyes and nose. It only took him a few moments, but it was very thoughtful of him."

"It would take more than that to make me a _slave_ to his kind."

"I suppose that is the difference between you and I." 

Footsteps were headed in my direction. The rabbit I had been speaking to had disappeared into the darkness and safety of the night. I recognized the pace of my master, it was once again time to work. 

For a brief moment my youthful thoughts of running wild with a herd returned to me, followed by the reality that a wild life was a dangerous one. (Being a cattleman's mount is dangerous as well, but I felt protected to a certain degree and would rather chance it with the men then my own kind.) As the master placed the saddle on my back I felt a sense of satisfaction course through me. I recognized the mutual trust between the master and I, something a wild horse would never know. It was at that moment I was grateful that I wasn't wild.

__

The End.


End file.
